02 May, 2007

Ask the average cyclist to name a frame builder and it's likely that "Richard Sachs" is the only name they'll come up with. Richie's name recognition comes from decades of superb frame building. There are not many builders around that started in 1972. And it helps that he possesses more than a little marketing savvy. How many frame builders have appeared in dozens of magazine and newspaper articles, sponsored their own cyclo-cross team, and have their own lines of lugs?

The latest effort from The House of Richie is a book, no a portfolio, of his frames. The 21 pages are filled with exquisite photographs by Jeffery Weir, who also shoots for Calvin Klein, Nike, Panerei, Lipton, Mikimoto.... (You see what sort of company we're in.) It covers the Richard Sachs signature series road and cyclo-cross bikes in mouth-watering detail. There are no randonnuese yet, but he did say something about a turnpike hunter in his last e-mail. Pretty cool ATMO.

What I like about Richie's bikes is they are tools, like someone said of the 70s Cinelli SC - weapons to attack with. You can cover them up with slick, shiney paint, but that's not what they're all about.

May I throw Curt Goodrich's name into the ring. I'm about half way through his 24 month queue. At this level I don't think that one builder is necessarily better the another, it's more a matter of style and approach. Curt got my nod because he is local and does very nice work.

Neil you guys are the connoisseurs not me but having seen the work of these guys (and having had the pleasure of riding a RS), it's my unsophisticated/ ignorant/ redneck opinion that the Weigles and Sachses are a significant cut above. Goodrich does make a mean fillet-brazed city bike though; then again so does Chris's guy Ahrens.

Speaking of VO's builder, wonder if Mr. Coast would make a frame with specs to accomodate some of the wonderful NOS products Chris is sourcing recently.

The Pelissier hubs and the bars and stems would look real nice on the road VO.

And David, I am no expert, but Goodrich has made some mighty fine bikes. I think at this level you have to figure in what Kierkegaard says about subjectivity being reality and reality being subjectivity.

"it's my unsophisticated/ ignorant/ redneck opinion that the Weigles and Sachses are a significant cut above."Weigle most definitely. Vanilla probably more often than not. I had a Vanilla and sold it a while back. The workmanship was certainly first rate but I never warmed to the geometry - which I left completely in the hands of the builder - and it was the only bike I have ever owned that had a completely unacceptable amount of toe overlap. It was a very real issue - I clipped my feet enough times in a serious enough manner to know that the bike wasn't for me.

Joel, Johnny could make a frame to use those parts, any builder could. The changes required would be very very minor. In fact you could use them on almost any stock frame if you simply re-space the rear dropouts, about 15-minutes work.

yeah, and most steel frames, you don't even have to respace them. There's enough flex that a couple of millimeters axle length really makes no practical difference. Might sound uncool to fussy types, but people do it all the time with zero side effects.